Swiss vs Swedes: Humorous race to teach Chinese which is which

Logo for the “Sweden-Switzerland” competition held by the Swedish and Swiss consulates in Shanghai; image from www.sweden.cn

Swiss or Swedish? As people in China keep confusing the two European states, their consulates in Shanghai have launched a humorous competition to finally sort out the confusion and keep Sweden and Switzerland apart.

For English speakers it is relatively easy to pick the difference
between Sweden and Switzerland. And playing word association
games, very few would come up with chocolate, cheese, bank and
watches for “Swedish,” because these are the things that are
commonly related to “Swiss”.

In the Chinese language though the names of the two European
countries sound very similar, making people really struggle to
remember that IKEA and Volvo are Swedish companies and that ABBA
was a pop band from Sweden, but not Switzerland.

“You often encounter this,” Swedish Consul General
Victoria Li told the TT news agency, cited The Local. “Sweden
is 'Ruidian' and Switzerland is 'Ruishi'. The first symbol is the
same.”

To put an end to this name mix-up, the Swiss and Swedish
consulates in Shanghai have launched a
“Sweden-Switzerland” competition.

As part of this creative contest on social media, the Chinese
have been invited to come up with funny, yet correct ways to tell
Sweden and Switzerland apart. That can be done in any format - a
blog article, a cartoon, a photo, a short film or any
other.

“The best three pieces of work will be awarded generous
prizes, and the winner will receive a 12-day trip to both Sweden
and Switzerland for two,” the Swedish Consulate states on its
webpage.

After the journey, the winners will have to report back on their
impressions.

The organizers have also made rather a witty poster for their
campaign. It depicts maps of Sweden (Northern Europe) and
Switzerland (Central Europe), which are both packed with objects
and people associated with the two countries.

For instance, the Swedish map has a Dalecarlian horse, a Viking,
Alfred Nobel, and a red-haired naughty child, Pippi
Longstocking – a character from one of Astrid Lindgren’s books.
There is also a gay couple getting married – which is not legal
in Switzerland yet - and a guy on parental leave. The Swedish
national flag is pinned on top of a large plate with famous
meatballs. The capital Stockholm is marked with crowns as Sweden
is a Kingdom.

The Swiss map, predictably, comes with all the traditional stuff
like cheese, fondue, gold and the Alps. It also has a picture of
a tennis player – apparently, Roger Federer, former world number
one. The country is home to a whole bunch of international
organizations: the symbol of the UN – which has offices in Geneva
- was placed on the poster as well.

The Sweden-Switzerland competition wraps up in about three weeks
with the deadline for submitting creative pieces of work set for
November 20.